Road To Rio: Drinkhall experiences mixed fortunes at National Championships

Drinkhall, who is from Loftus in East Cleveland, claimed the men’s doubles title alongside Liam Pitchford, with the duo beating Hutton Rudby’s Danny Reed and his partner, Sam Walker, in a closely-fought final.

However, there was disappointment for Drinkhall in the final of the men’s singles, with the Commonwealth gold medallist ceding a three-game advantage as he lost 4-3 to Pitchford, who claimed the national title for the second year running.

“It’s always good to win a national title,” said Drinkhall, who battled back from serious injury last season to claim the biggest success of his career as he won the Commonwealth mixed doubles title in Glasgow. “I won one and lost one so it’s a mixture of feelings.”

The singles final was an extremely dramatic affair, with Drinkhall completely outplaying Pitchford as he raced into a 3-0 lead.

The quality of his early play was too much for his 21-year-old opponent, but he was unable to retain the same level of performance and Pitchford gradually clawed his way back into the game.

At 3-1 ahead, Drinkhall had two championship points in the fifth game, but he was unable to convert them and eventually went down 15-13.

Pitchford tied the match with an 11-6 win in the next game, and with Drinkhall’s composure beginning to desert him, the final game ended in an 11-8 defeat for the North-Easterner.

The result means that Drinkhall remains at number two in the domestic rankings, and having established a potentially decisive position at such an early stage of the contest, the 25-year-old was frustrated at his failure to close out a victory.

“I’m disappointed to have lost the game,” he said. “He stayed in it, and stayed at the same level from start to finish. In the first three games I was that little bit too quick and strong, but then I dipped.

“Without taking anything away from him, I feel as though I lost the game. If he outplayed me, there’s nothing I could have done about it, like I did to him in the first three when I was putting the pressure on him.

“I had two match points, and looking back I could have done something different, but that’s easy to say.”

At least Drinkhall had the consolation of his doubles success, with that final turning out to be a mirror image of his singles game.

Playing with Pitchford, Drinkhall lost the opening two games of the best-of-five affair, before rallying to win the next three 11-9, 11-6, 11-5.

Reed was disappointed to have lost, but the North Yorkshireman is pleased with the way his partnership with Walker is progressing, with the pair having teamed up for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.

“We had a perfect start, 2-0 up, and I thought we played really well, much better than the Commonwealth Games,” he said. “We’ve improved, which is a real positive.

“I think we caught them a bit cold and bit surprised, but the third set was obviously crucial, when we got back from 10-6 to 10-9. They were good once they found the level, but I was happy with the improvement.”

Reed suffered further disappointment in the final of the mixed doubles as he was unable to rekindle the magic that saw him and partner Kelly Sibley win Commonwealth Games bronze last year.

After winning the opening game of their final against Sam Walker and Tin-Tin Ho, the pair led 5-1 in the second game, only to eventually lose it 11-8 as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat.

“I thought we played really well in the mixed,” said Reed, who suffered a 4-0 defeat to Pitchford in the quarter-final of the singles competition. “But they were more composed and calm, and took the important points.

“If I’d got the first set against Liam in the singles, it might have been different, but once I didn’t, it was always going to be difficult.”

Stockton’s Karina Le Fevre and partner Emma Vickers were beaten in the women’s doubles final by Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos 11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8.

“I remember thinking we could have had the second, and we had a bit of confidence in the third because of that,” said Le Fevre. “We thought we were a bit far away from the table, so we tried to step up and it was working.”

Le Fevre, who is a student at Teesside University, was beaten by Vickers in the quarter-finals of the singles, losing 4-2.

“I knew it was going to be 50-50 against Emma because we’re so similar,” she said. “I think Emma played well. I felt a bit nervous, but I don’t think that took much away from me.

“There are things I’m going to go and practice, there are things I could have done better. But that’s for another day.”